All is not broken, all is not stolen, all is not taken
We still have love
All is not lonely, all is not weary, all is not thirsty
You set us free.

So we still have joy, we still have peace, we still have hope
We still have love.
We still have peace, we still have joy, we still have hope
We still have love.

All is not destroyed, all is not forgotten, all is not...
We still have hope.
And all is not in darkness, there are those who are in righteousness, many in holiness
We still have love.

We still have peace, we still have joy, we still have hope
We still have love
We still have joy, we still have peace, we still have hope
We still have love.

All is not stolen, all is not broken, all is not forgotten
We still have love.
All is not stolen, all is not forgotten, all, many are true
We still have you.

We still have joy, we still have peace, we still have hope
We still have love, still have love
We still have love, we still have love
We still have love, we still have love.

Love is God and God is love
We still have love.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................

A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Isaac Blackman, for expressing so beautifully the sentiments that I feel tonight as I think about my homeland on her fifty-first anniversary of Independence. We still have love. This, I firmly believe. Although there are times when my alarm gets the better of me, it is only because I know without a doubt that we have been blessed with a boundless creativity and an amazing capacity for positive evolution and I cannot wait to see what will be achieved.

"We still have joy, we still have peace, we still have hope

We still have love."

Love and cherish what we are blessed with. Make our home a haven of peace. Make our nation a beacon of hope. The world is in desperate need of these. Keep the land green, superNATURALLY so. Be kind to neighbours and to all the living beings that share this beautiful land.

And:

"God bless our leaders
Give them grace to guide
Bestow on them thy judgment wise
To rule our land aright
To keep the flag of freedom high
That we may sing most lustily
We take a pride in our liberty." --God Bless Our Nation

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Sung introduction:
"Who knows the truth and who tells the lies and who makes us cry?
Who knows the truth and who tells the lies and who makes us cry?"

They say I'm an Indian so the only sun I know about is the rising one
but this is about a forgiving Son...
[People murmur under their breaths, "Indian man doing spoken word, boy!"]
...but like a thief in the night, the Son was here
and we slept like babies and we slept like adults and we slept though it all.
Lots of people took the time to look behind and forgot what was in front of them
And so on the four corners of this round earth stood tasteless pillars of salt
and slowly we crumbled without leaving a trace of the old world,
without knowing that God was here last night
dressed as seventy thousand child soldiers in Burma
and thousands of women in Afghanistan
who are not allowed to drive because men prefer they stay inside.
This is not a Muslim thing, it's a man thing.
Even in 2011, we can still see people drinking from drains
and eating from bins and not eating at all.
And dem boys from the black tie party filling their faces with black gold
bought from distant places where the sun refuses to shine
as "Yes, we can!" slogans and "Peace is the answer." banners
take precedence over the things that really matter.
As we relish in this common wealth, I think about the common poor;
people who eat the same thing every day - a big, fat nothing!
You see, I wish to grow old and shake the locks in my heart
and read books written by my counterparts and swim in streams of milk and honey
and purchase Trinidadian art sold in Paris painted by the sons and daughters of the soil
who understand that freedom is a sham we all bought into.
And now there is no running away from those jail cells
we locked away our innocent thoughts in.
Bound and gagged, I looked over my left shoulder
and there is nobody to tell me what I should be doing at twenty five.
So every morning, I wake up and I feel like I just ate my own vomit,
and not a small measure, but a huge helping
as child miners, whose shovels have now been replaced with thoughtless pens,
are taught to give up and give in by men who know better.
I feel sad for those kids in Trinidad!
just as I feel sad for the ones in Flatbush and Louisiana
who can't seem to find themselves,
lost in a sea of self doubt and food stamps without flavour.

Financial AIDS is words than HIV,
and this New World Order is like spaghetti with shit for meatballs.

But I know the day will come when we will be a better people.
The day will come when we will rise again!
The day will come when we will see that nothing is wrong with interracial marriages.
The day will come when women will be treated with respect.
The day will come when men will treat women with respect.
The day will come when women will treat themselves with respect.
The day will come when spoken word will be taken out of the bars and placed into the schools.
The day will come when people will stop clapping for everything and clap for something.
The day will come when love will become a reality.
The day will come when we will love who we are and where we came from.
The day will come when all of us will laugh and cry and lift each other out of this nightmare.
The day will come when young men and old men,
and young women and old women will build a bridge
walk over the generation gap and say, "Sorry."
The day will come when one of us will tear down that Columbus statue in the square
The day will come when the system will fall.
The day will come when Haiti will no longer be treated like our bastard brother and sister
but our freedom mother.
The day will come when Africa and India will rock the world again
in the first cradles known to man.
The day will come when someone from our era will become the Prime Minister
and on that day we will pray that he or she remembers this day,
and remembers all those dreams of freedom we used to talk about when we were young.
The day will come when we will grow old and weary.
And the day will come when we will leave this place
and venture to that place where dreams are all that's real.
The day will come when the day will come but today is not that day.
So I choose,
and you choose,
and we must choose... to stay awake!
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................

A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Keegan Maharaj, for giving me permission to share this moving performance. With your faith and conviction, these are snake handling words. These are words that are urging us to seek deliverance and healing...

"17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” --The Bible, Mark 16:17-18.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

MASTERS OF WAR
Composed by Bob Dylan (1963)
Performed by Tatiana Moroz

Come you masters of war, you the builder of guns
You that build the death planes, you that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls, you that hide behind desks
I just want you to know I can see through your masks.

You that never done nothing but build to destroy
You play with my world like it's your little toy
You put a gun in his hand and you hide from his eyes
And you turn and run farther when the fast bullets fly.

Like Judas of old, you lie and deceive
A world war can be won, you want me to believe
But I see through your eyes and I see through your brain
Like I see through the water that runs down my drain.

You fasten all the triggers for the others to fire
Then you sit back and watch when the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion as young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies and is buried in the mud.

You've thrown the worst fear that can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children into the world
For threatening my baby, unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood that runs in your veins.

How much do I know to talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young, you might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know, though I'm younger than you
That even Jesus would never forgive what you do.

Let me ask you one question, "Is your money that good?"
"Will it buy you forgiveness? Do you think that it could?"
And I think you will find when your death takes its toll
All the money you made will never buy back your soul.

And I hope that you die and your death will come soon
I will follow your casket on a pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered down into your deathbed
And I'll stand over your grave 'til I'm sure that you're dead.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................

A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Bob Dylan...and the way things are going, this song is going to be relevant until this world ends or we end it. This song expresses the anguish that is sown in people's souls when governments that are allowed too much power by their citizens and by the rest of the world, are bent on bringing death and destruction to those who displease them.

Why this rush to attack Syria? With the knowledge of all that has gone before, why am I even asking this question? Why not wait for the UN Weapons Inspectors to do their investigations and present their findings? Like many people with imperfect information, at this point I cannot point an accusing finger with any confidence. What makes you so certain? Rebels or Syrian government? Unlike some, however, I am not afraid of what the inspectors could find.

"The United States Government assesses with high confidence that the Syrian government carried out a chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs on August 21, 2013. We further assess that the regime used a nerve agent in the attack. These all-source assessments are based on human, signals, and geospatial intelligence as well as a significant body of open source reporting. Our classified assessments have been shared with the U.S. Congress and key international partners. To protect sources and methods, we cannot publicly release all available intelligence – but what follows is an unclassified summary of the U.S. Intelligence Community’s analysis of what took place."

..."The body of information used to make this assessment includes intelligence pertaining to the regime’s preparations for this attack and its means of delivery, multiple streams of intelligence about the attack itself and its effect, our post-attack observations, and the differences between the capabilities of the regime and the opposition."

..."We have intelligence that leads us to assess that Syrian chemical weapons personnel – including personnel assessed to be associated with the SSRC – were preparing chemical munitions prior to the attack. In the three days prior to the attack, we collected streams of human, signals and geospatial intelligence that reveal regime activities that we assess were associated with preparations for a chemical weapons attack.

"Syrian chemical weapons personnel were operating in the Damascus suburb of ‘Adra from Sunday, August 18 until early in the morning on Wednesday, August 21 near an area that the regime uses to mix chemical weapons, including sarin. On August 21, a Syrian regime element prepared for a chemical weapons attack in the Damascus area, including through the utilization of gas masks. Our intelligence sources in the Damascus area did not detect any indications in the days prior to the attack that opposition affiliates were planning to use chemical weapons." SOURCE

So, what they are alleging is that using their spying...pardon me, their intelligence gathering capability, they knew about the plans to carry out the chemical weapons attack three days in advance? AND????.....What did they do to prevent it? Why didn't they threaten the Syrian government at that point? Why didn't they threaten that government, tell them that their plot had been uncovered and blow the whistle so the whole world would be on alert? Why didn't they warn the Syrian people? Why did they just sit back and wait so that complicity is the only word now to describe their inaction when all the citizens and especially the children that they are crying over now needed them to exercise their conveniently absent responsibility to protect? Their only excuse now will be that there was a long delay in making sense of the "intelligence" and even that excuse is hard to accept considering that especially at this time, they must take information gathering and analysis in this part of the world very seriously.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

"What we must know is that the world is changing and we must change the way we see the world and one of the things we need is more friendship, more love because we have only one world. The world is only one and is for all of us."

I watched this video tonight and it lifted me up. With all the bad news in the world today, I want to say with gratitude, "Blessed are the community builders." I fully appreciate the importance of agriculture before all other industries and I am also an avid supporter and practitioner of organic agriculture. I have to say that Cubans continue to convince me that they are way ahead of the rest of us.

Permaculture courses are offered in Trinidad and Tobago but for those of you who would like to combine a permaculture design course with a visit to Cuba, the 2013 International Permaculture Congress and Convergence will be held there from the 11th November to the 5th December. The theme this year is: "Cuba: towards Hurricane Proof Permaculture Systems. Permaculture in Islands and Cities, facing Climate Change Challenge."

No longer may I seem to be a paradise of glory
Or a river of pleasure running out to the sea
But I take my refuge in a higher power you see
My body will be restored and my heritage is still beautiful to me.

Don't cry for me, my children, [Don't cry] for all the fire that falls upon me
Don't cry for me, my children, [Don't cry] it was given to me to test me
But I will not be shaken, I am La Trinity
And there is no destruction, if you look you still see
There is a mountaintop, there is the sea and sand
Child, I am your rock, I am your island.

Children, I am strong, immovable, so keep working, forget the pain
Always knowing that your toil is never in vain
Many hands make light work, I have two million, I am told
Just like my soldiers, they will never,
No, my children will never abandon my soul.

Rise up all my children, [Rise up!] forget the fire that falls upon me
There is no misconception, [Rise up!] you are the power and strength inside me
And I will not be shaken, I am La Trinity
No chaos and confusion, no doom, no tragedy
-------------------- may crack on solid foundation
Child, I am your rock, I am your island.

Look in the mirror, tell me what you see
- a beautiful child of La Trinity
Look in the mirror, tell me what you see
- a beautiful child of La Trinity.

Tortured minds crying out for help, child, you have some place to go
Don't be anxious for your life or your tomorrow
The birds, they don't sow or reap and yet their children they feed
I shall provide abundantly
For you are worth to me much more than a bird in a tree.

Don't cry for me, my children, [Don't cry] for all the fire that falls upon me
Don't cry for me, my children, [Don't cry] it was given to me to test me
But I will not be shaken, I am La Trinity
And there is no destruction, if you look, you still see
There is a mountaintop, there is the sea and sand
Child, I am your rock, I am your island.

Condemnation to all who meddle and destroy my sacred contents
Only a weak one can the Devil ever torment
But my children, you are my power, you are the substance that make me strong
And tomorrow you will see,
I will be a land once again bountiful and free.

Rise up all my children, [Rise up!] forget the fire that falls upon me
There is no misconception, [Rise up!] you are the power and strength inside me
And I will not be shaken, I am La Trinity
Land of your creation, blessed and almighty
And when one door is locked, another one will open
Child I am your rock, I am your island.

Look in the mirror, tell me what you see
- a beautiful child of La Trinity
Look in the mirror, tell me what you see
- a beautiful child of La Trinity
I say to look in the mirror, tell me what you see
- a beautiful child of La Trinity
Look, look, look, look in the mirror now and tell me now what you see
- a beautiful child of La Trinity
Look in the mirror, tell me what you see -
[I see] a beautiful child of La Trinity...

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................

A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Denyse Plummer.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Lord Invader's snapshot from the past, tells of a time when "Robust" men and maybe women were also wreaking havoc in their communities [T&T and Britain]. In his calypso, he proposed the liberal and energetic use of the cat o' nine whip as a punishment and deterrent just as some today are again falling back on the death penalty. I do not agree with the death penalty or the cat o' nine being used as a deterrent against crime but I am all for swift and decisive interdiction as the obvious and completely defensible action at this point.

It was with relief then, that I read about the raids in Port of Spain this morning here, here and here. Well done! to all the peace keepers involved in this authorisation and execution of this exercise. It sends the message to the miscreants that lawlessness will not be tolerated and to the victims, that their lives and property are not garbage.

I say this bearing in mind that we still have to get to the root problems and ask questions about why direct violence and structural violence continue to plague our society but I understand that these problems are generational and systemic and will not be solved in the short-term. In the short-term however, fiddling can mean the difference between life and death, between peace and war for victims and criminals alike. This situation is also an indictment against the law keepers that such criminal activity should have been allowed to escalate to the point where raids are required.

A while back I had posted some information about the Brazilian Pacifying Police Units (UPP) which move into troubled communities and stay there to establish a relationship with their members and to ensure peace for the beleaguered residents.

Good also to see the government and the opposition coming together to work towards solutions.

The only thing to stop these hooligans from causing panic in the island
The only thing to stop these hooligans from causing panic in the island
Well, I know that the government see they need another kind of punishment
I say one thing to cool down this crime is to bring back the old time cat o' nine.

So the old time cat o' nine, bring it back, and they bound to change their mind
Is to send them Carrera with licks like fire and they bound to surrender.

And in the days of Judge Gilchrist, as you know, nothing never happen so
Any man pass under his hand can tell you of the rod of correction
He use to treat them meek and mild, well, he never spare the rod to spoil the child
I say one thing to cool down this crime is to lash them with the old time cat o' nine.

So the old time cat o' nine, beat them bad, and they bound to change their mind
Is to send them Carrera with licks like fire and they bound to surrender.

The police is working harder and harder to see this thing go no further
Every night they on duty to safeguard us from violence and robbery
But they wouldn't stop at all, Peter is going to pay for Paul.
I say one thing to cool down this crime is to bring back the old time cat o' nine.

So the old time cat o' nine, lash them hard, and they bound to change their mind
Is to send them Carrera with licks like fire and they bound to surrender.

And every night they walking about in a band singing the song called, "Robust Man"
Have you heard it? - "I'm a robust man. Don't ask how ah ----- danger.*
The judge and jury can settle this thing easily
So the cat is the only time bomb to drop and this robustness will stop.

So the old time cat o' nine, beat them bad, and they bound to change their mind
Is to send them Carrera with licks like fire and they bound to surrender.

* "In the middle of 1943 an anonymously penned letter to the Trinidad Guardian reported on the conduct of a male defendant. This young man, according to the correspondence, broke out into song in the course of being sentenced. The lyrics were nothing short of the celebration of the "saga life."

Number one, ah en' working no way

Number two, ah en' drawing no pay

Number three, ah en' got no wife

Number four, is a saga life

So I'm a robust man
Don't talk 'bout no brave dange. [83]

True or false, this allegation trenchantly testifies to the subversive significance of saga. Both lyrics and setting confirm saga as a subculture of deliberate and dangerous indifference, indeed, of boastful challenges to decent manhood. The demands of neither work, woman nor law could compromise the saga boy's worldview that life was a game meant to be played fully, richly and fearlessly. The saga boy styled himself irremediably and unrepentantly against the conventional wisdom (otherwise) of colonial society. In the end, no image better conveys the arrogance, insouciance and defiance of the saga life than that of a convicted man lyrically paying tribute to his deviance in the face of judicial power." Source:Caliban and the Yankees: Trinidad and the United States Occupation. By Harvey R. Neptune. ReadHowYouWant.com, 2009, pp. 98-100

"Just before Invader left Trinidad for New York to challenge Morey Amsterdam and his coterie, there was a heading in the Sunday Guardian letters page: "The 'Cat' Urged As Remedy To Stamp Out Hooliganism" (11 February 1945: 4) The "cat" in question was the slave whip or "cat o' nine tails", and the "hooliganism," territorial activity associated with different steel bands.

These groups defended their patch against rival units and, as shown by numerous contemporary court reports, acted in bravado as "Robust Men," terrorizing innocent bystanders as well as those they saw as direct opponents. Such anti-social behaviour increased as the Second World War progressed, the root cause of which was not addressed by the proposal of corporal punishment as sole deterrent. Invader looked to these issues in his ironic "Old Time Cat-O'-Nine" recorded for Decca in 1945 (34009). Soon after his arrival in Britain, in 1956, he told the Melody Maker that this was one of his favourite compositions. (5 May: 8)

On returning to England from continental Europe in 1958, Invader encountered a similar phenomenon, gangs of "Teddy Boys," white youths who fought one another and carried out random acts of violence against passers by. Sometimes these assaults were racially motivated. Invader immediately revised his Old Time Cat-O'-Nine, altering locations and personalities to suit the new environment and recorded it as Teddy Boy Calypso (Bring Back The Old Cat-O'-Nine) (Nixa 15162). Residing in New York City in 1959, he recycled this version with minor variations for Moses Asch.

The only thing to stop those Teddy Boys,
From causing panic in Great Britain,
The only thing to stop those hooligans,
From causing panic in England,
Well I hope that the Government,
See they need another kind of punishment,
I say one thing to cool down this crime,
Is to bring back the old time cat-o-nine.

CHORUS:
So the old time cat-o-nine beat them bad,
And they bound to change their mind,
Is to send them to Dartmoor with licks like fire,
And they bound to surrender.

In the days of Judge Hitchins, as you know,
Nothing never happen so,
Any man pass under his hand,
Can tell you of the rod of correction,
He used to treat them meek and mild,
He never spare the rod to spoil the child,
I say one thing to cool down this crime,
Is to bring back the old time cat-o-nine.

CHORUS:
So the old time cat-o-nine, bring it back,
And they bound to change their mind,
is to send them Dartmoor with licks like fire,
And they bound to surrender.

The police is working harder and harder,
To see this thing go no further,
Every night they on duty,
To safeguard us from violence and robbery,
But they would not stop at all,
Peter is going to pay for Paul,
I say the cat is the only time bomb to drop,
And this "Robustness" must stop

CHORUS:
So the old time cat-o-nine, lash them hard,
And they bound change their mind,
send them Dartmoor with licks like fire,
And they bound to surrender.

You see that 'though these Teddy Boys haven't got no reason,
Attacking innocent people,
Every night they walking about in a band,
With a razor in their hand,
But the judge and the juries, can settle this thing easily,
I say one thing to cool down this crime,
Just beat them with the old time cat-o-nine.

CHORUS:
So the old time cat-o-nine, beat them bad,
And they bound change their mind,
is to send them to Dartmoor with licks like fire,
And they bound to surrender.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Spoken:Good citizens, every day body bags litter our land as each dawn, another one bites the dust. Our country is drowning in a pool of blood. The cost of living, like the cost of living, is also escalating but our calypsonians, the so called voice of the voiceless have grown silent. Calypso has been reduced to picong, picong on Panday or Oma's big account. Come on patriots! Let's rise and put country before party. Let's stand for Trinbago!

The road is long and the burden is heavy [Heavy]
But for my land, no cross is too hard to bear
I look around town at this brand new, shining city [City]
Skyscrapers and towers rising high everywhere
But beneath the surface there's another sound
Of violence, anguish, fear and pain
That can find no vowels, no fearless champion tongue
As calypsonians blind and dumb remain.

As bodies drop throughout the land [There is silence]
Food prices rise from inflation [There is still silence]
Who want to muzzle dey own tongue, stifle dey protest song
No! I ent going down so.
As more prostitutes roam after dark [There is silence]
Street children sleeping in the park [There is still silence]
I can't make a mockery of this craft, engage in picong for a laugh
I can't divide my land in half [I stand for Trinbago]
Party before country ----------------
'Cause I stand for Trinbago. [I stand for Trinbago]

There was a time calypso was the true opposition. Yes!
To keep egos down or gross excesses in check
Now, to win a crown, some take a different position
Singing for their supper, they tell kaiso, "What de hell!"
These very same bards, they'll attack Basdeo Panday
Politics have a morality of its own
Now that things get hard, they behave the same way
'Cause to talk the truth, they they don't have the ------

Look!
Steel and cement rise throughout the land [There is silence]
I can't hope to build no grand mansion [There is still silence]
Them contractors have we on we knees
If I coulda only talk Chinese, I would employ some hototo
While my colleagues blindly close their eyes [There is silence]
To the people's cause, the grassroots' cries [There is still silence]
I cannot prostitute this art, see pioneers hard work fall apart
So though the art form on go slow [I stand for Trinbago]
While inflated egos crow and crow, I stand for Trinbago. [I stand for Trinbago]

In the dead of night, you could hear your own heart beating
To the ticking clock, you say a silent prayer
At the crack of dawn, a shotgun barks its greeting
As the victim loved ones wail out in despair
Some say, "Fear not, with the blimp above us, Soon there'll be Fortress T&T."
But still them gunshots echo like mih chorus
To mock and mark our insecurity.

Look!
As every street now flows with blood [There is silence]
All who drill for gas, now getting mud [There is still silence]
With calypso muzzled -----------------------
Who is to stop the private jet from soaring where the corbeaux go
As porn invade our kids' cellphone [There is silence]Passa passa firmly on the throne [There is still silence]
As calypsonians-------------------
------------------------------------------
Who am I to try to oppose? [I stand for Trinbago]
While calypso lie comatose [I stand for Trinbago, I stand for Trinbago]

Let God be found true, though every man a liar. Yes!
So God say and that's my solemn vow
Though I may get burnt, I ent 'fraid no fire. No!
For the truth will come somewhere, some way, somehow
I can't sell my soul, join the masquerade
For fancy car, apartment and land
I must speak out bold, call a spade a spade
If I'm to be called calypsonian.

Look!
Where juveniles wild and outta hand [There is silence]
Little Danah wining on Akon [There is still silence]
I cannot cover up the truth, I can't hoodwink my nation youth
I 'fraid the vengeance of Moko
While law and order turn to grief [There is silence]
And the halls of justice lose their chief [There is still silence]
I can't be a traitor to this art, Trinbago tattooed on mih heart
Not for a part but the whole rainbow [I stand for Trinbago]
In the name of true, true calypso [I stand for Trinbago]
No party card can't lay me low [I stand for Trinbago]
Once I hear the truth, I must say so [I stand for Trinbago]
Like Kitchener, Pretender or Maestro [I stand for Trinbago]
Red, white and black is my logo [I stand for Trinbago]
Let my battle cry be your motto [I stand for Trinbago]
[I stand for Trinbago]
[I stand for Trinbago]
[I stand for Trinbago]

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................

A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Singing Sandra.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

In a old and young party in Tunapuna
Three old lady came and said to me"Tell young people Granny say, tell young people Granny say,
They got to pay for thing they throw away."
They throw 'way we lamp dey, throw away we lamp dey
Throw away we home, sweet home.
They throw 'way we --------- for street light
They throw 'way we home, sweet home.
They throw 'way we lamp dey, throw away we lamp dey
Throw away we home, sweet home
They throw 'way we grater for Osterizer
They throw 'way we home, sweet home.

Granny stamp she foot and then she told me,"Young people don't care 'bout times they are going through.
Suppose Mister T&TEC, to run the current he forget
Tell me what young people going to do?"

[They throw 'way we lamp dey, throw away we lamp dey]
[Throw away we home, sweet home.]
They throw way the creole fowl, throw way the gristle fowl
And when -----------------------------
----------------used to go and dig it out
[They throw 'way we home, sweet home]
Throw 'way de baby and -------------------

Any help with the lyrics would be appreciated.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!

Thank you, Brigo! This song is about progress and what is surrendered in the name of it. It is not just about the nostalgia of the old for a way of life that was simpler and where people got by with less. It is also a concern about a loss of self-reliance. Will we survive if all the modern conveniences were to be removed from our lives? I think we will. People are resilient. People are wired to survive so I am not too worried. I see only silver linings in such a situation. I think that when all the clutter of "civilization" is removed, human beings will see more clearly what the really important things in life are. People will realise that much of what is called "development" involves surrender of our essential selves and our freedom as beings originally created to live at one with Nature. As Austin sang, the price of "progress" is high.

And I have to say that paime made with homemade corn meal is the best!

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

"A strong energy sector and visionary leadership have made Trinidad and Tobago one of the most politically stable and economically successful countries in the Western Hemisphere, Trinidad and Tobago's ambassador to the United States said in an interview on Focus Washington."

..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Here is where we are expecting the rubber to begin meeting the road, where just action should trump oratorical flights and give pause to our cynics howling in the wilderness. Time will tell and time alone knows that the twine of a leader's legacy, whether good or bad, is much, much longer than you or I will ever comprehend.

"....In Trinidad and Tobago, we have been accused of being good talkers but poor listeners and the crisis in governance, in our nation, continues to be the result of not listening but shouting from the fences. For many years, there has been a bedevilling sense of disconnect to governance felt by the average citizen of Trinidad and Tobago. Our elected representatives, mindful of their oath to represent all their constituents, would do well to cultivate the art of genuine listening, which always inspires compassion and culminates in a better understanding, even of opposing viewpoints.

I am sure that our parang groups have already added this Venezuelan song to the repertoire and since it's a song about one of my favourite meals - Sancocho, I am even more interested in hearing it sung by a local band. In T&T, we say, "Sancoach" and spell it "Sancoche." The word comes from the Spanish verb sancochar - to parboil.

Si el sancocho es pescao fresco, | If the Sancoche is with fresh fish
Pon primero a calentar | First you start cooking
Ocumo, yuca y auyama, con su poquito de sal | The yam, cassava and pumpkin, with a little salt
Y la bananita verde que no debe de faltar | And you cannot do without the little green banana
Y la bananita verde que no debe de faltar. | And you cannot do without the little green banana.

Y al ver amigo mío, a la verdura ablandar | And, my friend, when you see the vegetables softening
Echa ese pescao fresco y limón sin reparar | Drop in the fresh fish and don't be sparing with the lemon
Y la botellita'e ron que no debe de faltar | And you must not forget the nip of rum
Y la botellita'e ron que no debe de faltar. | And you must not forget the nip of rum.

Y al ver amigo mío, a la verdura ablandar | And, my friend, when you see the vegetables softening
Echa ese pescao fresco y limón sin reparar | Drop in the fresh fish and don't be sparing with the lemon
Y la botellita'e ron que no debe de faltar | And you cannot do without the nip of rum
Y la botellita'e ron que no debe de faltar | And you cannot do without the nip of rum
Y la botellita'e ron que no debe de faltar. | And you cannot do without the nip of rum.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................
A Note From the Gull

Thank you, Gualberto Ibarreto, for this beautiful song. For those who don't know how to prepare this soup/stew, here is a Trinbagonian recipe for Sancoche at Simply Trini Cooking. Enjoy!

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

In the rendition above, the Trinbagonian singer from the band Fuego Caribeño repeats one verse for the entire performance where lines from different verses in the original are mixed. The rhythm is more or less representative of how most Trinbagonian parang groups deliver this song although I have heard the tempo quickened by different bands. The song, Maria Antonia, was originally composed by the Venezuelan, Gualberto Ibarreto, who sings it in the video below.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Thank your, Ras Shorty I, for the example of your faith in what is good, for your patience, for your music. "Who God Bless" is like an anthem for me and I am sure, for many others. The work continues, the music lives on.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

This composition by Lord Pretender (Aldric Farrell), "God Made Us All," was first performed by him in January of 1943 so it may have been composed in late 1942. It was a hit in Trinidad and Tobago and went on to make its mark overseas. According to the notes from the Smithsonian Folkways album,"Lord Invader: Calypso in New York":

"Lord Pretender, young calypso singer almost 'brought down the house' and created a precedent... on Friday night, before a mixed audience at the Commando Tent on St. Vincent Street, with the song 'God Made Us All'. His rendition of this 'plaint' was sincere, if not particularly 'catchy', and immediately his chorus 'Nobody better than us' - became a hit among back-benchers, earning him special gifts of money." So reported the Sunday Guardian (Trinidad) on 17 January, 1943 (p. 5).

GOD MADE US ALL
Composed by Lord Pretender
This version performed by Lord Invader

If you are a Negro you can plainly see,
That you’re bound to suffer misery and tyranny,
If you are a Negro you can plainly see,
That you’re bound to suffer misery and tyranny,
But we all should be race conscious and always be,
Living in unity and tranquility,
For God made us all and in Him we trust,
Nobody in this world is better than us.

We are not against the white people in any way,
For they made us what we are today,
We must offer thanks to Abraham Lincoln,
Queen Victoria and Booker T. Washington,
We are now living in a world of civilization,
And yet there is so much discrimination,
For God made us all and in Him we trust,
Nobody in this world is better than us.

Now listen what I am outlining to you,
Negroes fought in World Wars One and Two,
Some lose their lives, other lose they hand,
We fought gallantly for the United Nation,
So if we Negroes are good enough to fight,
I don’t see why we can’t have our equal rights,
For God made us all and in Him we trust,
Nobody in this world is better than us.

Yes, we ought to unite with one another,
As the scripture say, to love thy neighbour,
If you are a Jew or an Italian,
A Negro, or a subject of Great Britain,
This is what I want you to realize,
Six feet of earth make us all of one size,
For God made us all and in Him we trust,
Nobody in this world is better than us.

Yes, I heard they speaking of democracy,
That is only diplomacy and hypocrisy,
It is about time they should be cut out,
The way they treat the Negroes down South,
In my opinion it is a burning shame,
Like they want to bring back slavery again,
For God made us all and in Him we trust,
Nobody in this world is better than us.

The following verse was added at a later date by Lord Invader, following the acquittal in 1946 of Linwood Shull (Chief of Police in Batesburg, South Carolina) for beating war veteran Isaac Woodward, gouging out his eyes and blinding him for life.

One of the worst atrocities it ever had,
I must state is that of Isaac Woodard,
A Negro soldier who served four years in the army,
He was beaten so mercilessly,
[…] to tell you-
I cannot say why,
He was beaten by a cop, who dug out his eye,
But God made us all and in Him we trust,
Nobody in this world is better than us.

"The song was extremely successful, Lord Invader won a contest with it the following year and was apparently awarded a prize of some kind. Back in Trinidad, Lord Pretender, the composer, commented, 'He brought [me] a kinda gold wire tie pin marked 'Pretender,' with the usual promise [i.e., but with no money].' (Donald Hill, Calypso Calaloo: Early Carnival Music in Trinidad, Gainsville: University Press of Florida, 1993, p. 165)." SOURCE

I cannot find a recording online of Lord Pretender singing the complete version of his original composition but thanks to G.B.T.V. CultureShare Archives and Gentle Benjamin, we can share the appreciation of the audience as he sings some verses at the Father's Day Caribbean Show at the Aristocrat Manor, Brooklyn, NY., 20th June 1999.

When you are a negro, it is plain to see
Like you are born to suffer misery and tyranny
As an African, it is plain to see
Like you are born to suffer misery and tyranny
We all should be race conscious and always be
Living in unity and tranquility
For God made us all and in Him we trust
So nobody in the world is better than us.

I'm not against the white people in any way
They have helped to make the world what it is today
But if I am forced to say what is right
They kept us in the darkness but now we see the light
So they didn't have no right to live happily
And we in tyrannical poverty
For God made us all and in Him we trust
So nobody in the world is better than us.

For you can be a duke, a king or a lord
You can have money as Henry Ford
You can be a president or an emperor
A baron, a count or a dictator
As Moses or Solomon you can be wise
But six feet of earth makes us all of one size
For God made us all and in Him we trust
Nobody in the world is better than us.

Some people believe that the Negro race
Were descended from monkeys and apes
And if they had the power, they would waste no time
To wipe us out from the ranks of mankind
But man were born with created equality
The pursuit of life, happiness and liberty
For God made us all and in Him we trust
So nobody in the world is better than us.

Extempo Verses follow:
Well, ladies and gents, I'm putting it to you
You see what the lady and gentleman do
They treat me quite splendid
It's obvious you should do just what they did
Me ent begging anybody
You know that I have the ability
Me ent killing nobody, I'll tell you as friend
You could give me a twenty, even a ten.

Class is class, you bound to agree
I like what these people doing to me
I must make you to understand
Put it in the box or put it in mih hand
Me ent care where you put money
As longst you give it to the great Preddie.
So come right away, let me feel as man
Somebody put a hundred note in mih hand.

I like the way you go
But I have to continue with the calypso
So after this verse, I'll tell you as man
I'll prove I'm a true, true calypsonian
I'll go back to the song immediately
So sit down kindly and listen to me
I love you, believe me, I don't want to bawl
All ah we know that God made us all.

A little less than two years after this performance, on January 22nd 2002, our Lord Pretender passed away from this life. His obituary published in the Guardian (UK) follows:

"Even when he began singing in the calypso tents of Trinidad and Tobago before the second world war, Lord Pretender, who has died aged 84, stood out as a master of extempo, then regarded as the highest form of calypso, in which performers make up verses about subjects shouted from the audience. As a new generation of calypsonians began to drop this exhilarating art in favour of more structured stage performances, he emerged as its greatest exponent, and virtually sole guardian.

Until cancer of the larynx prevented him from singing, Pretender was loved for his insistence on improvising new verses when called back for encores. He never entered the annual extempo competition, instituted in the hope of reviving the discipline in Trinidad, because, by general consent, he would have spoiled the party for everyone else. No one could match his ability to conjure up humorous, and perfectly scanned, verses from nowhere.

Born Aldric Farrell, in Tobago, he made his first appearance in 1929, at the age of 12, at the Redhead Sailor in Corbeaux Town. He sang a calypso of his own composition about the ghost of a young girl named Jane - and never looked back. After a five-week tour with the calypsonian Executor, for which he was paid 60 cents and two bags of oranges, his profile began to rise significantly in the mid-1930s.

Though initially tagged "the Boy Wonder", he soon went by his schoolyard nickname of Pretender, which he had given himself as a dramatic sobriquet while pitching marbles. His early popularity as a singer did not, however, impress his grandmother, who brought him up in Trinidad after his mother abandoned him for the United States.

In the early days, mindful of the scandalous reputation of calypsonians, she would often stride into a tent and haul him off stage. "I'd get two clouts in the face," he once said. "My grandmother would say: 'You disgracing the family.'"

Preddie, as Pretender was affectionately known, won his first competition with the rousing and popular wartime calypso, Ode To The Negro Race, the refrain of which ran: "God made us all and in him we trust/ So nobody in the world is better than us." But it was his happy-go-lucky postwar compositions that won him most acclaim. One of them, Que Sera Sera, helped him win the calypso monarch competition - the highest achievement for any calypsonian - in 1957.

His most famous song, Never Ever Worry, is often cited as one of the classic calypsos of all time. A neat summary of his philosophy - Don't mind how you suffering bad/ What I say is true/ Always consider: somebody suffering more than you - it was frequently updated after its first recording in 1961, and featured in the US road movie, Cadillac Ranch (1996).

Athough awarded his country's Humming Bird medal in 1994, Pretender's financial returns from his career were meagre. He lived, as a single man with no children, in a public housing scheme in Port of Spain, and was given some relief shortly before his death when the government allowed him to stay there rent free. During his later years, he survived on a pension from his time as a dock worker.

His great passion outside calypso was horse racing, and he could be seen regularly at Trinidad's Santa Rosa Park racecourse with fellow calypsonian and horse-owner Lord Kitchener, sometimes leading Kitch's horses into the winning enclosure.

Pretender appeared onstage until the mid-1990s, and died at the height of the build-up to the 2002 carnival season, still nurturing a hope that he would be well enough to show off his unrivalled extempo skills in public once more.

For musicians interested in locating the chords for this song, here is one source.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

A lot of people don't understand
Wey you call a true, true calypsonian
Plenty, plenty people don't understand
Wey you call a true, true calypsonian
It have a fella singing "Portrait of Trinidad"
The singer have the whole country going mad
He get all the fame and publicity
And his composer remain in obscurity.

It ent fair, it ent fair
This thing has been going on year after year
You know that it's true but what can I do
But try and explain the facts to you
I admit the fella may be a good singer
But to be a kaisonian you must be a composer
Tackling any topic comes to hand
To call yourself a true, true kaisonian.

Friends, I know the facts you like to hear
So let me make myself abundantly clear
I am not against the kaiso singer
The fella have a right to work for he dollar
But I can't take them in a competition
Boasting and bragging how they's champion
And them judges picking them all the time
But if you check up on them, they can't write a line.

So you see, it ent fair, no, no, no, it ent fair
This thing has been going on year after year
You know that it's true but what can I do
But try and explain the facts to you
I say to be a calypso king
You must be able to compose and sing
Then you could hold up your head as a man
And call yourself a true, true kaisonian.

Friends, I wonder if you really know
How hard it is to present your own kaiso
You have to get an idea, then a good composition
With sweet music and proper rendition
When you finish all that, you still ent at ease
You have a demanding audience to please
You have to always come good by public demand
To be accepted as a true, true kaisonian.

So you see, it ent fair, it ent fair
This thing has been going on year after year
You know that it's true but what can I do
But try and explain the facts to you
These people always have me shedding tears
It's time that they correct this state of affairs
And always give credit to the man
Who you know is a true, true kaisonian.

The Merchant sang about pan in danger
But to me he ent cover the whole picture
For if the truth you would like to know
The same thing applies to we kaiso
They introduce a new innovation
A scarcity of words in their composition
And if this trend continue too long
We sure to end up singing calypsong.

So you see, it ent fair, no, no, no, it ent fair
This thing has been going on year after year
You know that it's true but what can I do
But try and explain the facts to you
They should hold three separate competitions
For singers, calypsonians and comedians
Divide the goats from the sheep, that's the only plan
Then you could know who's a true, true kaisonian.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................

FEEDBACK

Lord, Please walk beside me through this day. Clear the heavy air with the lightness of Your Presence. Guide my hands and steady my heart that I may give comfort when I cannot give hope, that I may give relief when I do not have a cure, and that I may radiate Your healing peace when the limits of science, time, and the human body overwhelm us all.Amen